Tsukiotoshi-hen
Tsukiotoshi-hen (憑落し編, Exorcism Chapter) is an arc only found in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri. Although Tsukiotoshi-hen does not provide many answers, since it is similar to what went wrong in Onikakushi-hen, Tatarigoroshi-hen and Tsumihoroboshi-hen, it is still considered an answer arc. In this chapter, Teppei, Rena, Shion and Keiichi act as the antagonists. Plot The story is similar to Tatarigoroshi-hen in the beginning, things only start to go in a different direction when Satoko is absent from school and Rika refuses to explain the reasons. Rina is tortured and later killed by the Sonozakis, but only after she successfully stole the Ryūgū family's money. Shion is also present in this arc, she remembers her promise with Satoshi, but she hasn't transferred to the Hinamizawa school, yet. Shion and Keiichi team up in order to save Satoko, but just like in Tatarigoroshi-hen, the peaceful ways are unsuccessful. Rena (already showing signs of the Hinamizawa Syndrome) reveals her plan to Keiichi to kill Teppei in order to avenge his and Rina's badger games and to save Satoko. On the same day after school, Keiichi realizes that he also wants to kill Teppei. Shion enters to the classroom, only to inform Keiichi that the Child Protection Services has failed again. In despair, Shion says that she wants to kill Teppei. Keiichi takes Shion to Rena's hideout. Rena is suspicious at first and slams the van door at Keiichi's hand, but she later apologizes, and the three of them decide to kill Teppei. In the next few days, Rena, Keiichi and Shion come up with a plan to kill Satoko's uncle (which is pretty much the same as Keiichi's plan in Tatarigoroshi-hen), but as they progress, Keiichi starts to have hallucinations and becomes increasingly paranoid to Shion and Rena. On the day of the Watanagashi, the three successfully kill Teppei, but Satoko catches them red handed. After seeing her uncle's corpse, Satoko starts to panic, but Shion knocks her out with her taser and takes her home. On the same night, Satoko reaches the L5 stage of the Hinamizawa syndrome, and kills Shion with a knife before clawing out her own throat. A few days later, Keiichi, Rena and Rika discover their corpses. Filled with sorrow and anger, Keiichi picks up Satoko's knife and promises that they will kill their friends' murderer. On the next day, Keiichi tells Shion (a disguised Mion) to go to the trash dump to see the murder weapon that Rena, Shion and him used. Pressured by Rena and Keiichi, Mion reveals her disguise and tells Keiichi and Rena that she disguised herself as Shion to find out what's going on and give an alibi to her friends. Keiichi and Rena don't believe her, thinking that Mion is the one who murdered Shion and Satoko. Although Mion tries to prove her innocence, Rena and Keiichi kill her and later bring her corpse to the Hōjō house to place it beside Shion and Satoko's bodies. Rena and Keiichi decide to burn the house down to hide the evidence and prevent their friends' bodies from decomposition. Rena suddenly stabs Keiichi with Satoko's knife to "save" him from Oyashiro-sama's curse. Keiichi starts to apologize, but Rena leaves Keiichi in the burning house. Later, Rena goes to "save" Rika from Oyashiro-sama's curse, which is believed by Rena to be the cause of the whole tragedy. Rena doesn't have time to kill Rika, so she locks her in the Saiguden to murder her later. However, later that night, Rena finds Rika's disemboweled corpse near the shrine. A police officer notices Keiichi's blood on Rena's dress, which causes Rena to panic and flee to the mountains to escape arrest. Rena hallucinates her friends playing tag in the woods, until she's interrupted by a gravely wounded police officer. The police officer tells Rena that the village was wiped out by "poisonous gas", and there are people around the village, shooting everyone on sight. The officer dies and Rena tries to flee, but she is shot by a group of people. Despite this, Rena manages to escape to her secret hideout in the junkyard. Confused, tired and wounded, Rena tries to sleep, but she notices a piece of paper. Looking at the paper, she realizes something and gets out of her van. A gunshot is heard and the arc ends. Disappearances and Deaths All deaths and disappearances are listed only as they are told in Tsukiotoshi-hen. Spoilers are only for the individual arc, not the overall series. Disappearances *'Hōjō Satoshi', disappeared in 1982 a few days after the Watanagashi Festival. Deaths *'Hōjō Tamae', beaten to death in 1982 on the night of the Watanagashi Festival by Satoshi. *'Mamiya Rina', captured, tortured and murdered by the Sonozaki family. *'Hōjō Teppei', beaten to death by Keiichi with Satoshi's old baseball bat, on the night of the Watanagashi festival. *'Tomitake Jirō', clawed out his own throat and drowned in his own blood on the Festival's night. *'Takano Miyo', burned alive in an oil drum on the night of the Watanagashi Festival. *'Sonozaki Shion', stabbed to death by Satoko. *'Hōjō Satoko', after murdering Shion, she scratched out her own throat and bled to death. *'Sonozaki Mion', stabbed to death by Keiichi and Rena in the abandoned dam construction site. *'Maebara Keiichi', stabbed in the stomach by Rena and died from blood loss in the burning Hōjō House. *'Furude Rika', found gutted out in front of the Furude shrine. *'Everyone in Hinamizawa', died of gas poisoning during the Great Hinamizawa Disaster. *'A police officer', fatally shot during the GHD, in the forest around Hinamizawa. *'Ryūgū Rena', shot to death when she left her hiding place at the dump. Trivia *Completing Tsukiotoshi-hen will unlock the real ending of Taraimawashi-hen. *Chronologically, Tsukiotoshi-hen is between Meakashi-hen and Tsumihoroboshi-hen. *A fan translation of Tsukiotoshi-hen can be found here. Committing a crime isn't scary. The scary part is to admit it. Receiving a punishment isn't scary. The scary part is to know the pain of it. Neither crime nor punishment will be gone from the world, Because humans are unable to know their future. Frederica Bernkastel Category:Arcs Category:Game Only Arcs Category:Bad End Category:Answer Arcs